


When The Anchor Slips

by weedle_writes_gay_stuff



Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Oneshot, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-17
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:41:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,472
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24777079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weedle_writes_gay_stuff/pseuds/weedle_writes_gay_stuff
Summary: While camping on their way to fight Emilia and her resistance, Kipo finds her resistance to her mute form and fears slipping badly during the night, and at times like that, retaining a grip on her anchor isn’t easy. (This is my first try at writing a Kipo fic btw!)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 111





	When The Anchor Slips

**Author's Note:**

> Just to be clear, this is set after the events of Season 2, so SPOILERS if you haven't watched it yet!

Kipo tossed and turned awkwardly under her blanket. The humid heat around their campsite was smothering around her, making it practically impossible to just give up and go to sleep, no matter how much she knew she really needed to. When she tried sticking a leg out of the side and slipping the blanket off, it just felt awkward and uncomfortable, and when all of her was under the blanket it just felt way too hot.

She rolled over to one side, looking over at Benson and Dave snoozing comfortably together. Dave snored a bit, but Benson was quiet as a mouse, and had the bug resting in his arms. Benson probably wished that was Troy instead, she supposed, smiling at the thought.

Then she rolled onto the other side and noticed the quiet breathing of Mandu, the porcine mute curled up in the corner, her snout almost touching her front legs as she slept. She felt a little warmth in her stomach at how cute the sight was, but that little pepped up feeling quickly dissipated as she noticed Wolf snoozing, her hood flopped over her face.

Kipo stared at the wolfskin hood, the empty face almost seeming to stare back at her like a mirror. She squeezed her eyes shut and rolled over again, desperate to think of anything else. But she ran headlong into the white bear problem. Her dad was more into biology than psychology, but he’d taught her a little, and that was one of the simpler concepts: if you consciously try not to think about something, odds are you’ll end up fixating on it more.

Recognizing what she was doing and sighing, she tried to think of something nicer. She turned back over, fixing her gaze on Mandu, doing her best not to look at the wolf face at her friend’s brow. Ugh, now she was just feeling anxious about Wolf again. Great.  
OK, she thought, let’s try something else. Focus on what you’ve accomplished. You pretty much neutralized Scarlemagne and his crazy plan to introduce mute supremacy. That’s good, right? But what came next? 

Oh no. Emilia. Emilia the bigoted little so-called freedom fighter, with no patience for the idea that humans and mutes were both intelligent and could and should coexist. And they had to go fight her off together. It kinda made the whole Scarlemagne being gone thing pale into insignificance in her head, honestly.

Thinking about that brought her back to Wolf. She did seem way more supportive of and patient with her despite her being a mute, but how could she be sure? After spending years of her life hating mutes and seeing them as the enemy, she’d really turned around and recognized they were intelligent and worthy of respect too after a few weeks with Kipo, Benson, Dave and Mandu?

Kipo sighed again. Ok, maybe I just need some air, she thought. She pulled off her blanket and quietly but hastily walked away from the campsite. After a little trek, she came to a peaceful river, and stared into it. Her eyes were bloodshot and she could practically feel them aching. But between blinks, they changed from white to pink, and a chill went down her spine.

She winced as she noticed her nose had become flatter and more sensitive. The Mega Jaguar was coming out again, and much as she tried to resist it, her new nose and eyes were already picking up unfamiliar sensations that blurred her grip on her human form.

As she looked down to see pink patterned fur rising on her forearms and her hands become clawed paws, she shut her eyes and breathed, “Herbs in… herbs out.” But when she opened them, she was still staring at paws. She felt a prickle at the base of her spine, turned her head and winced as her tail swayed almost out of control.

I have to hold this in, she thought anxiously. They need to sleep. I need to go back to sleep. This isn’t fair! She felt the cold ground as her shoes vanished and her feet turned into back paws, and from the prickling spreading across her skin she could tell she was either growing fur, having an anxiety attack, or most probably, both.

She looked back in the water again, and when she opened her mouth she noticed her sharp fanged teeth. All of a sudden, something was dawning on her, something she knew deep down but had forgotten in the midst of her anxiety: this was REALLY COOL. It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t gross, and so long as she wasn’t trying to attack someone, it wasn’t dangerous. She smiled a feline grin as her face changed and pushed into a snout.

Looking behind her and seeing no one around, she also got a better look at her now fully mute form, and felt not anxiety or fear, but pride. It was OK, she was realizing. She just needed some time as the Mega Jaguar, not fighting anyone, just relaxing in this body because it was much her as her human form was. Before long, she’d calmed down quite a bit.

She smiled and started thinking about being her human self again. It was OK now. She could go back… to… Wolf. Thinking about her friend, how she would react if she saw her like this, was bringing back the anxiety. And no matter how much she thought about being a girl again, how important her friends were and how much they loved her, she couldn’t get back to human form. Stifling a roar or even a whine, she sat by the river and stared at her jaguar snout reflected in the water.

*

Wolf stirred, her hazy eyes seeing the empty blanket next to her almost instantly, and she winced. Where was Kipo? She sat up quietly and noticed footprints leading away from the campsite. Oh no. Had she been kidnapped or something? Quietly, she trod the path led by the footprints, soon recognizing the trail they led towards was the lake where they’d been earlier that day.

As she got close, she heard a growling sound, and sneaked into a bush to try and stay hidden. Then she noticed the familiar giant pink shape next to the river, and realized what was going on. Sighing, she muttered, “I guess I should go wake Benson.”

Kipo’s ears perked up and noticed this familiar wavelength, and the Mega Jaguar turned to look at Wolf with a distinctly un-jaguar expression of surprise and embarrassment. A split second later, it had vanished into light, which hastily changed its form into a teenage girl, and Kipo stood there sheepishly. “Wolf, I’m- I’m so sorry,” she mumbled.

“It’s OK,” the younger girl said, leaving the bush and walking towards Kipo. “What was up?” she asked casually. Kipo didn’t answer, and Wolf added a little blunter than she meant to, “C’mon, tell me.”

“I’m sorry for waking you up,” Kipo said, grinning nervously.

“It’s fine. Now tell me what’s wrong,” replied Wolf, and a moment later, sensing she was still being too blunt, added, “Please.”

Kipo sighed. “I was upset because I thought you still hated me being a mute, OK? I know you don’t, but my stupid brain was telling me that deep down you actually do ‘cause you did for so long. I’m sorry.”

To her surprise, Wolf’s response was quite civil. “It’s alright,” she said calmly. “I get why you feel like that, but trust me, I don’t hate you at all. I dunno if I even could. I probably would’ve managed it by now.” Her tone for the last part was pretty teasing, which was a huge relief to Kipo given how serious Wolf had tended to be about resenting her in the past.

But then Wolf did something even more surprising to her. She opened her arms a little to invite a hug. Kipo eagerly took the opportunity, and whispered, “Thanks Wolf.”

“Anytime,” Wolf answered. They both knew she was exaggerating, but right now, it was the thought that counted.

As they headed back to their camp, Kipo teased, “From now on I’ll try and have anxiety attacks at more convenient times.” When she looked over at Wolf, she noticed she didn’t find that at all funny. “What’s up?” she asked.

“If this stuff makes you upset, don’t joke about it,” Wolf frowned. “And if you need to talk to someone about it, I can just get Benson to help in future. I think he’s better at this than me.”

“If you think so,” Kipo replied. Wolf nodded firmly, so the pink-haired girl added, “OK, we’ll go with that then.”

“Good,” answered Wolf.

“Honestly, though?" Kipo said. "I think you helped quite a lot.” She giggled as she noticed Wolf blush at the compliment.


End file.
